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While the focus have been mainly drawn to the growth of platforms in the developed countries, little was known about the rise of technological platform disruption in the developing countries. This post will focus on the phenomenon of hail-riding services provider, G0-Jek in Indonesia.

Founded in 2010 by Nadiem Makarim, a Harvard Business School graduate, Go-Jek quickly became a huge economic phenomenon in South East Asia. What is the story behind GO-JEK?

GO-JEK is a motorbike courier business provider that connects two distinct groups, the drivers and the customers. The traffic-clogged streets of Indonesia have created a momentum for GO-JEK to perish. While taxi or any car-based couriers provide comfortable ride four-wheeled vehicles, Go-Jek offers speed and flexibility to its customer at lower cost. The trade-off between comfort, cost and speed was evident.

With a huge internet-oriented consumer based and growing level of consumerism in Indonesia, Go-Jek has disrupted the market by combining technology and logistics. As of today, GO-JEK has transformed its business model into a multifaceted service delivery & app-based service provider that connects more than 35,000 food merchants, 3,000 service providers with drivers and users. Users can interact and order Go-Jek’s service through their app, which has been downloaded by 17 millions time up until to 2016.

However, Go-Jek’s path is not without obstacles. With the intensified competition from fellow hail-riding provider, Malaysia’s Grab, that is backed by China’s Didi Kuaidi, it has put Go-Jek at unfavorable position. Moreover, the Indonesian government has recently established an operation restriction for ride-hailing providers, following the protest from the taxi driver nation wide.

In order to strive against the competition, Go-Jek has recently received $550 million USD from American private equity firm Warburg Pincus and KKR. This additional funding is needed to expand the business and innovate in another areas. Recently, Go-Jek has acquired India’s healthcare startup, Pianta. In which will be integrated with Go-Jek’s branch to support for Go-Jek Indonesia’s operation. The branch will focus on product innovation, data mining and finding out ways to improve Go-Jek’s customer experience.

While technology provides the means to tap into emerging and developing markets such as Indonesia, it is not a solution on its own. One should also take into account that while the developing countries in Asia might have growing consumer base, but the access to technology is still under-developed. Not everyone is guaranteed to have access to internet. On top of that, there is a huge income gap in the societies. Technology-based startups and platforms should also take into account the cultural differences between each region and the other and how to bridge those gap.

References:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/indonesias-go-jek-acquires-bengaluru-based-healthcare-startup-pianta/articleshow/54537060.cms

What is a GoJek?

GoJek: Alternative Transportation in Jakarta

https://www.techinasia.com/indonesia-go-jek-nadiem-makarim-profile

Indonesia’s Go-Jek raises $550 million to battle Uber and Grab

 

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3D printing has been around for several decades now, after its first invention in 1984 by Charles Hull. It has been used to manufacture automotive parts, smartphones, clothes, medical equipment, and artificial organs. However, how exactly will 3D printing become the next big game change in the manufacturing industry?

In the manufacturing industries, as much as 11% of companies around the world have been using 3D printers to produce parts and products, according to research conducted by PWC (Smith, 2015). Even though 3D printings do not offer the economies of scale like the traditional manufacturing has, they offer greater flexibility, which is useful in rapid prototyping and customization (Smith, 2015). It eliminates the customization cost and allows manufacturers to do print-to-order, which will produce less waste and eliminates the cost of excess production. Consequently, as both of the aforementioned cost diminishes, the need of warehousing & cost of distribution also shrinks. Moreover, as production can now be conducted internally, it is likely that the global supply chain will also be disrupted (Mourdoukoutas, 2015). This implies that there will be possibilities of a shift in the economics of outsourcing, in favor of insourcing (Mourdoukoutas, 2015). Likewise, it is expected that many jobs in the future would be automated and many jobs would be created with the increasing use of 3D printings. As the technology allows for flexibility, it will foster innovation and promotes labor-market flexibility (Board and Editors, 2013). This means that workers can start new business by developing new skills by investing in education (Board and Editors, 2013).

Despite all the promising benefits 3D printing has to offer, it has several drawbacks too. The threat of intellectual properties rights increase as more people utilize and use 3D printing. Many have shared the schematic designs for free in websites such as Thingiverse or Shapeways, of which many were unpatented (Gilpin, 2015). These designs can be copied and sold repeatedly by anyone, where expensive or breakthrough designs can be reverse-engineered and replicated at low cost (Gilpin, 2014). Moreover, ethical issues rises in the field of bioprinting, a medical application of 3D printings. Many have questioned the legality, ethicality and moral issues about creating organ tissue by mixing the human cells with canine muscle cells (Gilpin, 2015). As 3D printers also enable users to print weapons, and possibly drugs in the future, it raises concern whether the technology will bring more harm than good to society (Gilpin, 2015).

 

While it is true that 3D printing is still in its infancy stage, but we cannot deny that its growth is inevitable. Considering its advantages and disadvantages, it is only a matter of time to see whether 3D printings will actually revolutionize manufacturing industry and the global economy.

References:

Board, E. and Editors, T. (2013) How 3-D printing could disrupt the economy of the future. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-05-14/how-3-d-printing-could-disrupt-the-economy-of-the-future (Accessed: 26 September 2016).

Gilpin, L. (2015) The dark side of 3D printing: 10 things to watch. Available at: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-dark-side-of-3d-printing-10-things-to-watch/ (Accessed: 26 September 2016).

Mourdoukoutas, P. (2015) How 3D printing changes the economics of Outsourcing and globalization. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/panosmourdoukoutas/2015/07/18/how-3d-printing-changes-the-economics-of-outsourcing-and-globalization/#7236ca386b8c (Accessed: 26 September 2016).

Smith, R. (2015) 7 ways 3D printing is already disrupting global manufacturing. Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ricksmith/2015/06/29/7-ways-3d-printing-is-already-disrupting-global-manufacturing/#100542d4158b (Accessed: 26 September 2016).

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Technology has been changing the way we live our lives and the world we live in today, as compared to decades ago.  As technology continues to develop rapidly, it creates new ways of conducting business, disrupting the existing industries and creating new markets.

In the video, we discussed how technology has disrupted the book industry with two technologies from Amazon, namely Amazon Kindle and Amazon Self’s Publisher.

The Kindle is a portable device that enables users to buy and read e-books and many other digital media contents, serving as an alternative for traditional print books. The demand for e-books will only continue to rise, however the intensity of competition is limited, as not many competitors can compete with the quality of the Kindle’s. Therefore, we believe that Kindle will continue to thrive at least for the next five years. Nevertheless, just as with any technological inventions, without new innovation, the lifecycle of Amazon Kindle will reach decline.

Meanwhile, the growth of Amazon’s Self Publishing service is heavily influenced by the growth of the Kindle. This technology enables authors to self-publish their work, bypassing the traditional publishing methods. With the strong brand power of Amazon, supported with the low level of rivalry in the industry, the Amazon Self’s Publisher has the opportunity to increase its market share and dominate the book industry.

We perceive the existence of both technologies as complements to each other, adding to each other’s growth. Both technologies have revolutionized what we read and the way we read it, digitalizing what was previously print and exposing us to niche titles. Despite this, we believe that there are certain aspects of this industry that technology could not replace.

Traditional print books are provenance and nostalgic, giving customers a unique experience that no e-reader can compete with. An added advantage of print books is that some can be kept as collectible items, increasing its value over time. This potentially serves as a huge threat for the existence of the Kindle and the Self-Publisher, as the users may still have a more meaningful experience with traditional print books.

While it is true that both technologies are disrupting the industry, the big question lies in the continuity of the technologies. Will it survive? Or will it die? To conclude, we believe that in order to survive the dynamic environment of the book industry, the Self-Publisher and the Kindle need to be continuously innovated and improved. Both technologies need to be able to provide added value to users, in order to survive and remain competitive in the long run.

Information Strategy Group 23

Riemer Bovet (363760)

Jack Erkelens (360249)

Faustina Theodore (382600)

Nadia Karina (365694)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2014/mar/31/paper-vs-digital-reading-debate-ebooks-tim-waterstone